Saturday, March 2, 2013

My switch Linux Mint 11 Gnome -> Mint 14 Cinnamon x64

Here are my notes on my switch over for my main desktop OS....

To Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon x64
from Linux Mint 11 Gnome 64 bit. I had tried Linux Mint Debian XFCE, but decided I wanted the added ease of use, stability and packages afforded by Ubuntu base and did not need so much the bleeding edge afforded by Debian testing base. I then tried Linux Mint 13 XFCE x64, but after installing Mint 14 Cinnamon on my daughter's computer I was hooked!

Amazon Prime was working correctly in Firefox for a while, then in Dec 2012 suddenly quit working for some videos. After some search, I discovered the solution. The package 'hal' needed to be installed. Once installed from Software manager, Amazon prime movies began working again.

Java 7 from Oracle

ProxMox Server administration would not work properly under OpenJDK (unfortunately), so I needed to install Oracle Java 7. My instructions for doing so are here: http://techtips-tom.blogspot.com/2013/01/getting-java-working-in-linux-mint-14.html

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

java -version

this verifies the oracle java 7 is installed (if not link to tutorial)

update-java-alternatives -l

this lists the installed alternatives - note the openjdk java listed

sudo update-java-alternatives -s [name of openjdk]

this switches back to primary java use of openjdk, but keeps links to Oracle Java 7 intact for functions not supported in openjdk

will show some errors because of the missing alternatives in openjdk

java -version

this should show the openjdk java

Create Menu Item or Launcher
At first I could not figure out how to Create a menu item or modify the menu, a bit tricky, though simple and logical...

simply right click the desired program in Menu and choose the desired location

Minecraft Launcher
The suggested sample launcher script given on Minecraft.net does not work. Following is what works for me:

command: java -jar /home/user/.minecraft/minecraft.jar

downloaded image file for menu icon and placed in .minecraft folder

Created menu item as described above with the command given here

Pithos - Pandora Music Player
This nifty program allows me to use Pandora service in a true aplication/program so my keyboard media buttons work. http://kevinmehall.net/p/pithos/

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kevin-mehall/pithos-daily

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install pithos

Rapid Photo Downloader - The best for getting images off your devices, renaming and ordering
To get the latest version, added the following ppa repository. Followed this help: http://damonlynch.net/rapid/ubuntu.html and performed the following in console.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dlynch3

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install rapid-photo-downloader

Steam Games and Flash Player within steam
Installed Steam for buying and installing games. (I'm not much of a gamer, but want to support the the industry as they consider porting games for Linux.) One of the issues is that the flash player within steam does not work. Found this workaround: http://www.webupd8.org/2013/01/how-to-get-flash-player-to-work-with.html It entails doing the following:

Move the file .../install_flash_player_11_linux.i386/libflashplayer.so into the folder you made ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/plugins

you can now delete the downloaded and unzipped files

made sure the libxt6:i386 was installed on my computer: it was

sudo apt-get install libxt6:i386

GRIVE - Google Drive Configuration
Because Google does not have an official Google Drive client for Linux yet (to automatically sync Google drive to a spot on your local hard drive), can use an open source alternative. One is available via a WebUpd8 PPA. See this page for details: http://www.webupd8.org/2012/05/grive-open-source-google-drive-client.html Problems are that it is command line only, no auto sync, doesn't download google docs.

I'm skipping this setup for now... think I will wait for official client.

SpiderOak Backup
SpiderOak.com has a good online backup solution and has had a stable Linux client for much time. Allows you to share files with others, file encryption, etc. Download client install file from https://spideroak.com/opendownload/

Printer Configuration
Because gnome-control-center has a broken or useless link to printer setup options, I added a launcher to system-config-printer, which seems to be awol from the menu.

mySQL or MariaDB
I am looking at MariaDB as a replacement for mySQL. Seems like the way to go, but for now, going to install mySQL, then play with MariaDB on the side. I've been installing mySQL right on my desktop computer and running it in the background for my business accounting database back end without any issues. Following are the packages installed.

mysql-server

automysqlbackup - for automatic backups

libreoffice-mysql-connector - for moving data between mySQL database and spreadsheets

First go through the "New Server Instance" setup to connect to local SQL Server

Now I can "Manage Import/Export" to add in my SQL dump file from my old computer

Connecting to SQL database from LibreOffice Base

/Edit/Database/Properties

Database name = GVaccounts

Server = localhost

Port = 3306

User name = []

select password required

/Edit/Database/Connection Type

Database type = MySQL (Native)

SimpleScreenRecorder

This program is a good screen recording program which overcomes some of the problems of other options. Enter the following in a terminal. Thanks to Jim Lynch for the heads up.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:maarten-baert/simplescreenrecorder

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install simplescreenrecorder

Sony Music Player - flash player woes
I have 2 Sony mp3 players. Both stopped working in recent versions of Linux in terms of being able to transfer music files on or off the player. I had given up on this, deciding to not buy this brand again, and keeping my music stagnant on it, occasionally updating from someone else's computer.
WORK AROUND is now working again. Just installed jsymphonic from the software manager and now able to access these players again. jsymphonic - file manager for sony's mp3 players.

Add my Favorite Programs

Accessories

KeypassX - password vault

Lucky Backup - full featured front end for rsync

grsync - another rsync front end, connects to network drives

Guake - my favorite terminal app

Shutter - screen saver that lets you edit screen shots before saving them to custom location

SpiderOak Backup - computer back up service front end

optional:

ClamTK - antivirus front end

jSymphonic - allows access to Sony music players

f.lux - night time screen dimmer

USB Image writer (LM 17 has USB writer)

Administration

optional

APTonCE

GParted - disk format utility (LM 17 has USB formatter & Disks)

hardinfo - System Information - shows detailed info on hardwqare

ChromeApps - installs automatically with Chrome apps

Education

BibleTime - bible study program

Games

Steam - I am not a gamer, but I appreciate the Linux support of the Steam community (same reasoning for purchasing Humble Indy Bundles). I signed up and bought a couple titles... works great, even in Beta! http://store.steampowered.com/about/

Google Music Manager - allows me to upload titles to/from Google account (both for purchasing from Play and for downloading my other music onto my Android devices)

Pidgin - My favorite (for now) IM client

Transmission - simple, stable bitTorrent client

Optional

Chromium Browser

Google Earth

Skype

Office

ePDFviewer - worked to print a few PDF docs when the default viewer had misplaced numberical dataap

Optional

GNUCash - Personal finance

Gnumeric - light weight spreadsheet

KeepNote - simple note taking

PDF Shuffler - working with PDFs

Programming (optional)

Emma - SQL front end, simple

Meld

Sound & Video

Audio Tag Tool - fixing mp3 tags

Pithos - Pandora music player

K3B - awesome disk writer

Netflix desktop - from PPA, see above, but maybe obsolete soon!

Openshot video editor - video projects

VLC media player

Optional

simple screen Recorder

Sound Recorder

System

Lucky Backup - fav backup program

Guake - (my favorite quick command line access) via F12

VirtualBox Non-free

Optional

Unet Boot (LM 17 has USB writer)

Wine

Other packages to install:

ubuntu-restricted-extras This package allows playing of mp3s, etc. Perhaps unnecessary with Linux Mint. Actually, thsi uninstalled libavcodec53 and libavutil51 and replaced them with libavcodedc-extra-53 and libavutil-extra51. It also installed various other packages..